North­hamp­ton po­lice chief’s trip to Is­rael can­celled

NORTHAMP­TON, Mass. (AP) — A Massachusetts city has de­cided against send­ing its po­lice chief to Is­rael for anti-ter­ror­ism train­ing.

The Daily Hamp­shire Gazette re­ports that Northamp­ton Po­lice Chief Jody Kasper and Mayor David Narkewicz made the de­ci­sion jointly. The mayor said it was best for the city, but his de­ci­sion wasn’t meant to be pro- or anti-Is­rael.

The train­ing would have sent Kasper to what was billed as a lead­er­ship sem­i­nar on pre­vent­ing ter­ror­ism and ex­trem­ism. It was or­ga­nized and funded by the Anti-Defama­tion League.

City Coun­cilor Alisa Klein, a dual Is­raeli-U.S. ci­ti­zen, was against the trip.

She said polic­ing in Is­rael has be­come in­creas­ingly mil­i­ta­rized and “so-called coun­tert­er­ror­ism tac­tics . have not made Is­rael safer.”

David Pak­man, who de­scribed him­self as “su­per left,” backed the trip, say­ing the train­ing could have been valu­able.